The Arkansaw traveler., 1887-08-27
AT LAKE M1NNEToNKA.
Beautiful Scenery and the Grand estGerman Ever Given in
 the Northwest.
A Fishing Professor Who Was Cold and Stern at First, But Who Finally
 Opened His Heart.
Editorial Correspondence.
LAKE MINNEToNKA, :

Central railway, especially as the Foatii | approaches that vast and beautiful neighborhood surrounding St. Paul and Minneapolis, makes. upon every bcholder, all impression that can never be forgotten. It is like beautiful face, which, once contemplated, lives forever afterward in the imagination. There are no great mountains; no rivers that seem to rush in whirling and tumbliDg terror, but there are dells which breathe a peaceful prom ise; rivers that sing a low, soothing song; hills that have reached down and drawn about them the green drapery of the valleys, and rivulets that whistle while the rakish blueiay waltzes with bright little bird that has just come down from Manitoba. Lake Minnetonka is the brightest jewel in all this great crown of beauty. So fantastic that you can never deter mine it's form; so versatile that you are never prepared for it's surpriAes, you sail from one embroidered pocket to another, feeling that you "Vuiu hCNOi SlOW WcdIN' I1cTc, Oil an island just large enough for it's ac- commodation, stands a cottage, and wonder, on grand slope, a palace stands in grandeur. Every face is bright. The grindstone of trade has been thrown aside; basket of flowers has been taken up. Men who in busi- ness would tear off the shirt of an ac- quaintance, now warmly shake hands with stranger. The very air is op- posed to strife.
 The Manitoba railroad has done more than any other agency toward making Lake Minnetonka a place of popular resort. The neighborhood's superior advantages as place of rest and amusement have of course long been known to the people of the west, but not until the Manitoba Railroad Company began to publish books and pamphlets descriptive of the scenery and fishing grounds did the people of the south feel much interest in Minne- tonka. The building of the Hotel Lafayette, which is without doubt the finest and most perfectly appointed watering place hotel in the country, convinced the public that the railroad company's descriptive articles had not been overdrawn. The entire country is leaping forward under the stimulus ot constant inflow of new life. The soil is not only rich, but is profusely generous. It would astonish Ken tuckian, who thinks that his is the only country for large grain, to see how tall the corn grows here; and, in looking at field of oats, he could not suppress an exclamation of sur prise.
 l shall not attempt to keep a record of the days nor to set things down in the stubborn order of chronology: nor can l hope to make even the briefest mention of the many courtesies which we have all received. Why, at grand german which was given at the La- fayette, 1 was requested to lead. I was much flattered at this mark of distinction, and during the entire evening would have enjoyed the cleo tric currents of self-esteem, had not discovered that the man who conferred the honor upon me had no authority to act indeed, I found that he him. self had not received an invitation to be present. One hundred couples ap- peared upon the floor, and hope that my frankness will receive due recogni- tion when I say that I could not have come nearer doing justice to the affair than did those two hundred people. Some of them danced earnestly, while others dipped in with delicate touch. One man, very fleshy but giddy old fellow from Fort Squat, insisted upon dancing with willowy maiden from Chicken Range. The old fellow wore an unintentional swallow tail-that is, calf had chewed off the tail of his coat and had swallowed it. The will lowy maiden demurred when he asked her to dance with him, plainly telling him that the Chicken Range society taught its minions to ignore man in a roundabout. "First reveal your coat-t -tail," said she, ''and then we will whirl in the dizzy"
 ne reacheu aS una, n1ted up two black strings which hung from his waist, bowed and said "You have asked me to produce my credentials. Here they are."
 She smiled with sweet apology, and replied: You must pardon what may seem blind devotion to form, but you know that in society one can not be too particular. My sister, an independent but well-meaning girl of thirty-eight Indian summers-she lived among the Cherokees-wasc care less of society details, and how do you suppose it resulted?"
 "Did it result at all?" the fat man ventured to ask.
 "Oh, yes. She married a man who declares that the chief charm of life consists of sopping cornbread into sor- ghum molasses."